


After the Reign

by WritersChoice



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Agent Reign, F/F, SuperCorp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 12:22:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17365745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritersChoice/pseuds/WritersChoice
Summary: Weeks after reign had been defeated Sam starts having memories of Reign's terror. Wracked with guilt she separates herself from those she's closest. Can the superfriends and a surprise romance convince here that National City is the best place for her and her daughter?





	After the Reign

It was almost midnight and Samantha Arias was having trouble sleeping again. She rolled out of bed with a sigh and padded barefoot down the hall to check on her daughter Ruby. When she opened Ruby’s door she could just make out her daughter’s dark brown hair above her bed-sheets. She smiled to herself when she realized that once again Ruby had managed to kicked her other pillow to the floor while somehow managing to keep hold of her stuffed rabbit from childhood. She closed the door without replacing the pillow knowing it was a futile effort. Entering the kitchen, she put on the kettle to boil hoping a cup of tea would help with her sleeplessness. She knew it wouldn’t but she had to try something. She ran her hand across her face before pushing her dark brown hair over her shoulder so that it fell like a curtain to the middle of her back. Sam was 5”9’ tall with dark brown hair and eyes and a lightly bronzed complexion all thanks to her Italian and Cuban ancestry. She wasn’t completely sure which half of her family was what, but after doing a DNA test for ancestry a few years ago to satisfy Ruby’s curiousity she could safely claim the heritage that her features had always hinted to.

 

Tonight however the last thing on Sam’s mind was her DNA makeup. No, tonight like the many nights that preceded, Sam’s mind was more consumed with her recent history than that of her ancestors. She hadn’t been sleeping well for months but she had hoped that after Reign had been dealt with that this would change. And it had, for about two weeks and then things got immeasurably worse. It had all started almost a year before when she accepted what was her dream job with her best friend. She was Lena Luthor’s CFO for LCorp, one of the most successful companies in STEM research. Not only would she be helping other people but her new role would allow the single mother a chance to improve life for her and her daughter. Yes, she’d had to move Ruby away from her friends but even that wasn’t so bad. Ruby was an awesome kid and never made Sam feel bad for making decisions that inevitably turned her life upside down. When Sam had had to tell her they were moving it was Ruby comforting Sam talking about all the friend they would both make and the experiences they would have. And like always Ruby was right, they had made great friends. This was partly due to her new boss and best friend Lena. Lena’s closest friends in National City had adopted her and Ruby from the moment they met. They invited Sam to their game and girls’ nights as well as Ruby’s recitals. They were even understanding when she stuck her foot in her mouth asking about awkward situations such as children and past relationships. They were even there to pick up Ruby from school when she couldn’t or take her figure skating or inviting them to intrude on their Christmas celebrations with their loved ones when they realized it would be just her and Ruby. Who knew that a billionaire CEO of two companies, a badass FBI (actually DEO she later found out) and an up and coming reporter would drop everything to be there for her and her daughter when they needed them for the smallest thing.

 

They were even there for her forcing her to let them help when she started to lose her memory and not be able to account for hours at a time. First it was Alex who kept her secret and ran tests to find out if there were any medical reasons behind her blackouts. When they hit a wall the redhead reached out to her contacts in the medical field for further testing. Alex then sat with her and was her rock while she told Lena and Kara about all the things that she had been hiding and lying to them about for weeks. She expected her boss to be angry at the meetings that she had missed but when she looked at the raven haired CEO all she saw was concern in her emerald green eyes for Sam’s well-being. The same concern was reflected on the face of the blue eyed blonde sitting next to Lena. No-one was the slightest bit angry at her for being sick or not meeting her professional obligations, no they were more upset with her for not telling them sooner so they could be there for her. They even pledged their support once again for Ruby in the very remote chance that something happened to her. To thing that these strong women were there for her, no questions asked, with only knowing her for a short amount of time was mind-blowing. What made it even more astonishing was that they were each going through their own issues. In the short time she had been in National City she’d seen Lena get accused on giving children lead poisoning, she’d had numerous attempts on her life and there was the general distrust of all Luthors that most seemed to share. Kara was dealing with her own heartbreak and Alex had recently called off an engagement to her fiancé Maggie and was dealing with the fallout of that. Even with all of that they were still looking at her as if SHE was the most important thing to them right now. And funnily enough she was sure that she was.

 

After everything they had done for her she betrayed them. She knows they don’t see it like that but she couldn’t see it any other way, they put their lives on hold to help her and in the end she caused them the most pain and heart ache. It all began when Lena realized that Sam was the masked Kryptonian targeting National City’s less than stellar citizens and anyone brave enough to get in her way. Once Lena found out about Reign she put herself in a position to be distrusted by everyone she had come to know and love in National City since her arrival. This included Supergirl, National City’s resident hero. Even knowing this Lena still went to work trying to help her. And she did, with the help of Supergirl, Alex and the DEO Lena was eventually able to rid her of Reign. After that she was able to finally get some sleep for the first time in months, at least for two weeks. That was until two months ago at their fortnightly girls’ night. It was her turn to host and her and Lena were laughing at the Danvers sisters as Alex chased Kara around the room trying to stop her from eating the last potsticker when suddenly Alex slipped and fell. She rolled to her back groaning slightly while laughing and clutching her right leg, the same leg that Reign had broken. Suddenly Sam wasn’t in her living room surrounded by her friends, instead she was in a bank facing Alex and an armed team of DEO agents. She could distinctly feel the chain necklace with the Kryptonite hanging around her neck and the weighted rope in her hands. She felt inhuman strength coursing through her limbs as she flung first one and then another agent across the room. She felt the rope as she lashed out and wrapped it around Alex’s leg before pulling her off her feet. She landed awkwardly with a thud on her right side clutching her leg, Sam swore she could hear the bone snap. She watched helpless has she got closer to Alex on the floor before grabbing her shoulder, she could feel herself screaming to stop as she felt her fingers closed around Alex’s black uniform shirt. She breathed a sigh of relief as J’onn rushed forward and punched her away.

 

Just as suddenly she was back in her living room floor looking up at the concerned faces of her three friends. And just as they had months before they rallied around her while Alex and Lena ran tests to see whether by some miracle Reign was resurfacing. When all the tests came back normal they all went home after each enfolded her in their embrace and obtaining a promise that she would call if anything else happened. That night she went to bed and somehow was besieged by nightmares, nightmares that turned out to be memories. One by one she watched in horror as Reign attacked and killed criminals and anyone trying to protect them. She watched as she wrapped her fingers around Lena’s throat and picked her off the floor. She watched as Supergirl begged her to take her instead and release Lena. One of her worse memories by far though was watching as Reign beat Supergirl, who she later found out was actually her best friend Kara, almost to death for daring to try and protect citizens. The more she saw the less she was able to be around her friends. After she had gotten to the point where she couldn’t look them in the face anymore she asked them for space with the intention of severing all ties once time had passed. Everyone was confused about her decision, including Ruby who for the first time questioned one of her mother’s decisions. As the days dragged on she kept asking about when they’d see her new honorary aunts again and what had happened. She kept asking for a month before suddenly she just stopped. Sam knew she should have felt relieved that Ruby had stopped asking but she couldn’t help but feel guilty at the air of sadness hovering around Ruby these days. The only time she truly saw her happy and smiley little girl anymore was when she was sleeping or early in the mornings before the quiet and resigned person her child had turned into emerged in full force. These days Ruby answered every question with a shrug of her shoulders. She seemed to have lost interest in everything and everyone and even her teachers had begun to comment on it. There were times that she wished her daughter was more like other children her age, those who let the entire world know that she was upset. The kind to rebel or slam doors or yell but that just wasn’t Ruby. Where other children got loud Ruby got quiet when she was upset. She plugged in her headphones and drowned out the rest of the world and wrote in the old fashioned journal she kept. Sam wanted to desperately read it to see what was going on in her daughter’s head but she couldn’t quite bring herself to invade Ruby’s privacy like that. It seemed that even Ruby’s font of irrepressible joy had run out when the superfriends disappeared from their lives as quickly as they had appeared. Seeing her daughter like that hurt, especially since she knew she could fix it with a single phone call.

 

Sam sighed as the whistling of the kettle brought her back to the present. She stood and made herself a cup of tea that she eventually let go could without drinking it as she sat on her sofa in the dark contemplating her choices. She could call her friends and explain and beg for forgiveness for her sake and Ruby’s or she could uproot their lives once more and move away. She didn’t know which choice to make but she knew they couldn’t continue the way they were.

 

Xxxx

 

Later the next morning she walked into her office tense and on edge knowing that she would be seeing Lena today for their weekly progress meeting. It didn’t help that tonight she would have been typically hosting girls’ night. Right after she had asked them for time Lena had tried to use their weekly business meetings as a means to keeping her abreast of what was happening with the superfriends. She stopped doing that when Sam had made it very clear that she was not interested in hearing it. She felt like the lowest individual when Lena’s face flashed with a moment of pain that was quickly masked behind her business persona. After that Lena was always strictly professional in her dealings with her though there were times when she caught her looking at her in confusion as if she were a puzzle she was trying to solve. She had also noticed that over time the daily calls, that went unanswered, from the superfriends slowly lessened. These days they had restricted themselves to each calling her only once a week to leave chatty voicemails that she would ignore until the dead of night when she couldn’t sleep. Then she listened to them in the dark, her heart constricting as each voicemail ended with a simple “Call me. I miss you”.

 

She was half way through her day filled with meetings and conference calls when she received a notification from her secretary that Lena would not be able to make their meeting. She felt a slight twinge as she realized that rather than calling her directly her best friend had opted to call her secretary. She couldn’t even bring herself to be upset at Lena’s choice, after all she had caused it on herself.

 

**I guess that’s what happens when you ignore their calls often enough.**

It seemed that her friends had finally given up on her. This meant that the only option left to her would be to put in for a transfer to another LCorp facility outside of National City. If there wasn’t one available, she would be forced to resign because she couldn’t leave her daughter in this limbo of not knowing whether she’d be seeing the superfriends again. She signed as she powered down her computer and prepared to leave for the day. The last half of her day was dedicated to providing her boss with updates and since that was cancelled she could call it an early day for the first time in months.

 

She opted to do some grocery shopping, laundry and light cleaning before picking Ruby up from school. She puttered around her house completing the mundane tasks on autopilot while her break was occupied with the logistics of finding another job like the one she currently had with LCorp. She would miss the work but most important she would miss her friends who were now family.

 

Xxxx

 

“Hey baby,” she smiled a few hours later after pickinh up her daughter.

 

“Hi mom,” Ruby mumbled back as she put on her seat-bell. Usually they spent car rides home catching up on each other’s day but lately ruby had used the journey home to play on her phone. As if on cue right after phone pinged indicating an incoming message. Ruby activated the screen her fingers  flying over the screen as she responded. After about ten minutes she looked over at her mom as if trying to gauge her reaction before glancing back at her screen and resumed typing. They were pulling into their driveway before Ruby spoke.

 

“Is it ok if I spend the night at Kayla’s?” Sam was momentarily shocked at the request as Ruby had not asked to go anywhere in five weeks.

 

“As long as her mom is okay with it,” Sam replied doing her best to keep her expression neutral. The last thing she needed was Ruby changing her mind if she was finally beginning to emerge from her shell.

 

“She’s fine with it. I’m gonna go pack,” Ruby answered grabbing her backpack and heading for the front door without sparing her mother a glance. Within 20 minutes she was packed and heading for the car waiting in the driveway for her.

 

“Hey Rubes can I at least get a hug and a goodbye?” Sam asked as her daughter tried to get past her in her haste to leave.

 

“Bye mom,” Ruby mumbled into her shoulder clinging to her mother for a moment. Sam buried her nose in her daughter’s hair trying to hang on to the short time she had left before her baby became a teenager. She hoped that today was an indication that Ruby was bouncing back from their most recent upheaval.

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow baby,” she whispered letting go. She fell a slight twinge in her heart as Ruby got into the backseat of Mrs. Collier’s car without a backwards glance. She noticed that Ruby was already on her cell phone again and prayed that her recent obsession with the thing would soon wane. She sighed as she closed the door and made her way to the living room trying to figure out what she would do with the rest of her day. She turned on the tv and sat flipping through the channels trying to chase the silence away.

 

 **You are such as loser Sam,** she thought picking a random channel. **It’s a Friday evening, you have no work to do and because your daughter has a sleepover you have no plans? How pathetic is that. You have no-one to blame but yourself.**

By 8 o’clock she had decided to order pizza and maybe head to the movies. She typically would not chance going to the movies alone being a lone female but if she didn’t get out of the house soon she was going to go stir crazy. She was about to get up when she heard a key in her front door. She was out of her seat and heading for the door in an instant thinking something had happend and Ruby had decided to come home. She was wondering why Ruby hadn’t simply called her to pick her up when she heard multiple vices from the front door.

 

“I still don’t want to watch The Shining again Alex,” Kara Danvers whined at her older sister as they came in holding what looked like pizza and potstickers.

 

“Come on Kara it’s a good movie,” Alex replied. “Lena back me up here please.”

 

“I’m with Kara,” Lena shrugged. “I would rather not have to watch The Shining.”

 

“Of course you’re with Kara,’ Alex scoffed.

 

“Um, what’s going?” Sam asked confused.

 

“Girls’ night. It’s your turn to host,” Alex replied as if the answer was obvious before turning back to argue with her younger sister.

 

“They’ve been at it the entire ride over here,” Lena sighed. “I swear I was tempted to jump out of the moving car at one point.”

 

“I don’t understand,” Sam said with a frown.

 

“Well Alex wants to watch The Shining and Kara wants to watch a musical,” Lena shrugged.

 

“No I don’t understand what you guys are doing here and how you got into my house?” Sam replied even more confused.

 

“Well I was going to just pick the lock but little Ms. CEO here vetoed that idea,” Alex deadpanned.

 

“I told you already that I’d rather not have to explain to CPD why I was breaking into my CFO’s house,” Lena replied with a scowl at the redhead.

 

“We got the spare key from Ruby,” Kara offered helpfully.

 

“Because it’s girls’ night,” Alex added once more.

 

“But I thought—“ Sam began with a frown.

 

“That you get out of hosting because of your schedule,” Lena finished with the arch of a perfect brow. “Not on your life. That’s why I made sure you had a light schedule today.” By this time, they had made it to the living room and had deposited the food to the coffee table. Sam wasn’t certain what to say. Here she had thought they had finally given up on her but instead they had once again rallied around her when she needed them most without her having to ask. She didn’t deserve their friendship but she wasn’t sure she could let it go anymore.

 

“Families sometimes stop talking,” Kara said resting her hand on the side of Sam’s face. “That doesn’t mean they stop being family.”

 

“We’re always here for you and Ruby Sam,” Lena stated wrapping her arms around the taller woman. Sam was on the verge of tears when Alex cleared her throat.

 

“We need to first decide on the movie. And then we need some wine glasses,” Alex said given Sam time to regain her composure. “So what do you say Sam, The Shining or a musical?”

 

“I’ve gotta go with Lena and Kara on his one,” Sam answered making Alex groan and Kara cheer.

 

“Ugh fine,” Alex muttered. “Just know you guys are a bunch of cowards. I should have known you three musketeers would stick together.” They all laughed as the big bad DEO agent who spent her day up against aliens threw herself to the sofa a pouted like a child.

 

“I’ll go get the wine glasses,” Sam replied still chuckling.

 

“I’ll help,” Alex called following her into the kitchen. Sam had just retrieved the glasses from the cupboard when she turned and realized that Alex was staring at her.

 

“What?” she asked confused.

 

“If you ever pull a stunt like that again I will shoot you,” Alex replied with a straight face. “And your ass isn’t bulletproof anymore so I wouldn’t test me if I were you.” Sam couldn’t help but smiling at the serious expression on Alex’s face.

 

“God I missed you guys,” she sighed.

 

“Then you should’ve answered your phone,” Alex muttered.

 

“I wanted to,” Sam whispered. “I just couldn’t. Not after everything I’d done.”

 

“Reign,” Alex ground out grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at her. “After everything **Reign** did, not you. You didn’t do anything wrong understand?”

 

“But it was still a part of me,” Sam began.

 

“You sure are working overtime for me to shoot you, are you Arias?” Alex muttered. Sam stared at her and wondered how she hadn’t noticed the little gold flecks in her hazel eyes before now. Or how her brow crinkled together when she frowned. Sam had noticed the tendency in the younger Danvers but hadn’t thought to look for it in the older one since they did not share genetics. Without having made a conscious decision she found herself kissing the shorter woman. She was so shocked at herself that she immediately pulled away.

 

“Oh my god Alex I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed. “I don’t know what came over me.”

 

“You should be sorry,” Alex quipped. “Most people buy me dinner first.”

 

“What?” Sam squeaked.

 

“The next time you want to kiss me, buy me dinner first,” Alex replied grabbing two of the wine glasses.

 

“How about tomorrow?” Sam heard herself asking

 

“It’s a date,” Alex replied with a wink. Sam was left standing there for a few seconds wondering what had possessed her to ask Alex out. She’d also found Alex attractive but she’d been with Maggie. Then Alex and Maggie had broken up and Sam would have had to be the worse type of person to ask her out then. By this time, she had resigned herself to just being Alex’s friend and here she was set to go on a date with her. “We should get back in there before Kara eats all the food.”

 

“Oh right,” Sam replied leading the way back into the living room. She was in for another shock when she walked in and found Lena sitting on Kara’s lap with her hands buried in her hair. She was also pretty certain that Lena’s tongue was very much in Kara’s mouth. “What?” She stopped short causing Alex, who was following closely behind her to bump into her.

 

“What happened?” Alex asked looking around her. Upon spotting Lena and Kara entangled with each other she simply sighed. It was going to be a long night if they kept that up.

 

“When did that happen?” Sam asked incredulous.

 

“A lot can happen in two months,” Alex replied before loudly clearing her throat. “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t do that around food.”

 

“You agreed, I didn’t,” Lena smirked while Kara stuttered. “I’m free to kiss my girlfriend anytime and anywhere I feel like.”

 

“Yes, but you are not free to kiss my little sister around **me** while I’m eating Luthor,” Alex growled. “Don’t make me have to put you two in containment.” Sam was laughing at the antics of her friends. As strange as it was seeing her two best friends kiss she was relieved at how **normal** it all was. She was also happy to see that the two had finally gotten over their shyness and were finally together. She’d noticed from the very beginning the chemistry the two shared.

 

“So when did this started?” Sam asked waving to the pair who were still sharing her armchair. The rest of the night passed in a blur of laughter, movies and food with the occasional pillow thrown by Alex to stop Kara and Lena from making out.

 

Xxxx

 

It was just after 8 the next morning when Ruby let herself in the front door. Normally she would have spent the entire day at Kayla’s house but she was dying to know how the night before went. When Aunt Alex had texted her and told her their plan she was all for it. She was tired of seeing her mom sad all the time and she knew she wasn’t sleeping again. She wanted to see her mom smile again and she always smiled when her friends were there. Truth be told Ruby also missed all their friends. Aunt Lena was super smart and never talked down to her like some adults did. Aunt Alex was a total badass and had promised to teach her how to fight and to top it all off Aunt Kara was **Supergirl.** They were all so cool but mainly she was just happy with how relaxed and happy her mom was with all of them.

 

Add to the fact that Uncle James was teaching her photography and Uncle Winn was helping her with coding and hacking. She really loved her new family and didn’t want to lose them. Especially Grandpa J’onn, she’d never had a grandparent before and this one could shapeshift. On top of all of that he was always really nice to same and snuck her candy when her mom wasn’t looking. All these thoughts were swirling through her mind when she walked into the living room a smile breaking over her face. There in front of her was her mom curled up with her head in Aunt Alex’s lap on the sofa while Aunt Kara and Aunt Lena were cuddling together fast asleep in the armchair. Ruby grinned to herself and quietly backed out of the room hoping Aunt Kara’s super-hearing hadn’t picked up her entrance. She had a feeling everything was going to be ok after all.

 

 

**Six Years Later**

“Hey kiddo,” Alex called. “Where have you been? You don’t want to be late for your own graduation do you?”

 

“Hi mama,” eighteen-year-old Ruby replied bouncing on the balls of her toes and looking over at Aunt Lena who was trying to get her five-year-old cousin Lara to stay still while she put a bow in her hair. “I had to stop by school for something first.”

 

“What’s that?” her mom asked walking in with her two younger siblings on each hip. She handed two-year-old Ryan to Alex while retaining her hold on four-year-old Rachel.

 

“It’s a surprise,” Ruby smiled.

 

“Oh now I really want to know,” Alex replied.

 

“You’ll find out at school,” Ruby said with another grin. She was admiring the small selection of her family that had gathered in their house to make their way to her graduation when Aunt Kara walked in with three-year-old Kallen and Lexi under each arm. She couldn’t help but be happy that her mom had decided to move to National City all those years ago. She hadn’t told her at the time but Ruby had been nervous about the move. Now she was glad that she hadn’t, after all if she had they never would have found their family.

 

Xxxx

 

Two hours later her entire family was gathered in the school auditorium with the other families while the graduates crossed the stage one by one to collect their diplomas. Ruby stood in line anxiously awaiting her own name when suddenly her principal leaned into the microphone and gave her family a small gift for all the ones they had given her.

 

“And now our valedictorian, Ruby Arias-Danvers.” Ruby walked across the stage and shook her principal’s hand and looked towards where she knew her family was gathered with a grin on her face. She was pretty certain she saw her badass mama wiping tears from her face.

 

Half an hour later the service was finally completed and she made her way back to her waiting family.

 

“Congrats kiddo,’ Uncle James said giving her a hug. Once her released her resumed taking candid photos of the entire family.

 

“We are so proud of you Ruby,” Grandma Eliza said while enveloping her in a hug with Grandpa J’onn.

 

“When did you change your name?” her mom asked after everyone else had given their congratulations.

 

“I started a few weeks ago with Aunt Lena’s help,” Ruby replied staring at the redhead behind her mom. “Everyone else in the family has a double barreled last name so I figured why not.”

 

“You know we didn’t change your name because we wanted that to be your choice right kiddo?” the redhead asked nervously.

 

“I know,” Ruby grinned. “I’m proud to have both of you as my moms so I wanted to have both your names.” They all pretended not to see that Alex had teared up while hugging Ruby.

 

“You knew about this weeks ago and didn’t tell us Luthor,” Alex said after clearing her throat.

 

“First of all it’s **Luthor-Danvers** as you well know,” Lena mocked sniffed indignantly. “And I was sworn to secrecy.” They all laughed at the smirk on Lena’s face

 

“I am so proud of your Rubes,” Alex said kissing her forehead and ignoring the group’s antics while her mom looked on with a smile.

 

“I say this calls for a celebration,” Winn says rubbing his hands together. The entire clan agreed and all agreed to meet up at Lena and Kara’s house since it was the only one big enough to house everyone. Ruby picked up Ryan as they headed towards the car. She had been considering going to university in Ireland like Aunt Lena but at moments like this, surrounded by entire crazy family, she could imagine being that far away for so long. Even though at first glance they didn’t look like family with their different skin tones Ruby knew without a doubt that family wasn’t always the people who shared DNA or even race with you but those who showed up for you when you needed them. She also knew that even if she had gone to Ireland that her family would continue to show up for her anytime she needed them.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to send me prompts on tumblr: still-figuring-me-out


End file.
